


The Adventures of Jay Arc Part Two

by AlexElric95



Series: The Jay Arc Saga [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, F/M, RWBY - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-07-15 21:29:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 13,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16071707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexElric95/pseuds/AlexElric95
Summary: After everything that happened at the Fall of Beacon, how will the group be able to reunite?





	1. Chapter 1

“Thanks again for your help with taking care of the Grimm!” said the leader of the village.

“It was no trouble at all! Thank you for all the supplies, this will be plenty for our journey!” Ruby said,

“I just wish we could pay you more.”

“Don’t sweat it. You’ve been more than generous sir and we really appreciate it.” Jay added.

“Alright then, I wish the four of you the best of luck on your quest to Mistral.” the leader said, as he waved the group off.

The past five months had been hard. The Fall of Beacon had impacted so many lives in such a devastating way and it resulted in chaos across the four kingdoms. But it wasn’t just a global tragedy, it was also a very personal one for everyone involved. Students, teachers and bystanders were hurt, Yang had lost an arm and one student had lost their life… Pyrrha Nikos.

Jay had never forgotten his fallen teammate, he thought about her everyday for the past five months. The thought of her never left his mind, not for one second. He thought about her every day while he was in the hospital for the injury he sustained during the Fall of Beacon. As he recovered, he would have recurring dreams where he would be able to reunite with her. But just before he was able to reach out to her, she would slip away and he would wake up alone. He hated that dream, it was a constant reminder of the pain he felt.

A few weeks ago, Ruby had asked him, Ren and Nora if they wanted to make the trek to Mistral with her. They asked her why she wanted to go to Mistral and she told the three of them it was because she needed answers and Mistral was the only hint she had. Jay wasn’t sure about the trip at first, the journey would be long and rough. Plus, he wasn’t sure about leaving his sister and grandparents all by themselves on the farm. But after a talk with his family and his teammates about the situation, he felt a bit better about going. He knew going to Mistral was important for all of them and he too wanted some answers about what had happened. 

So, here they were in Anima on their way to Mistral. The village they helped save from the Geist gave them a few pieces of gold and some supplies for their trip. It wasn’t much, but it would go a long way into their travels. As they started to walk down the road, Jay started reading out their checklist,

“Ok guys, do we have food?”

“Check!” Nora confirmed.

“How about water?”

“Check!”

“Solid! How’s our ammo situation?”

“Locked and loaded! Thank you Schnee Dust Company!” Nora said cheerfully.

Jay looked behind him and noticed Ruby’s face dropped at the mention of the Schnee name. He handed the checklist over to Ren and Nora and headed over towards his friend to walk beside her. He looked over at her and said,

“Hey, I miss her too. It’s gonna be alright, we’ll meet up with her again.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Ruby said, as she looked up at Jay and offered him a slight smile. He gave her a smile back as they continued to walk, with Ren and Nora ahead of them arguing over who had the map.

Later on as the day turned into night, the four friends set up camp and headed off to bed. Nora snored loudly as she and the others slept. Jay was having a bit of trouble falling asleep, as he usually did. Just before he could fall asleep, he heard Ruby wake up with a small scream. He turned over in his sleeping bag so he could face her and asked,

“Ruby, are you alright?”

“No, not really.” she replied.

“Well, do you want to talk about it? I’m here to listen if you want me to.”

“I just… I can’t stop thinking about that night. Weiss was taken away, Blake ran, Yang lost her arm… and we lost Penny and Pyrrha. I just wish I could’ve gotten there in time. Maybe then, I could’ve saved them.” Ruby said, as tears started to fall.

Jay got up from his sleeping bag and walked over towards Ruby. She was sitting up at this point and when he got over there, he moved to sit down beside her. He pulled her into a hug and let her cry. As he held her, he thought about his own feelings about what happened five months ago. He never really talked about them with his teammates or anybody else for that matter. He just didn’t want to bother anybody and he wanted to focus on the task at hand. He could deal with his emotions later.

Ren and Nora had also woken up at this point and they both sat up in their sleeping bags. Jay and Ruby let go of one another and looked at their two friends, they too looked distressed over the situation. 

“You know, I really thought she was going to come back. I never thought about what would happen if she didn’t. But, here we are without her.” Nora said sullenly.

Ren had moved over to where Nora was and placed a hand on her shoulder. Jay didn’t like seeing his friends upset, but he had an idea on how to cheer them up. He got up from Ruby’s side and went over to his backpack. He took out some red fabric he brought with him from the farm and handed each person a piece. He looked at his friends and said,

“I know it’s hard, what we’ve all been through this past little while. We’ve been pulled apart from friends and loved ones, and we even lost people we were so close to. I wanted us to have a way to always have Pyrrha and Penny in our thoughts and that’s where this fabric comes in. I borrowed some from my grandma before we left. I want all of us to tie it around one of our wrists, that way… they'll always be with us.”

The group all looked at one another and smiled as they tied the fabric around their wrists. Jay finished tying his around his right wrist and looked at the group. He knew he should be more open about how he’s feeling too, but he didn’t want to drag the group down. So, he pushed his own thoughts to the back of his mind as they all went back to sleep.

The next day, they packed up their camp and headed towards their next destination. 

“Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnddddddddddd… we’re lost.” Ruby said as she looked at the map.

“We’re not lost Ruby. According to the map, the next town is Shion. I remember going there a few times when I was a kid with my family.” Jay said.

“Ooohh, what did you do there?” Nora asked.

“Well, we mostly went camping. But we’d do other stuff like fishing, kayaking and backpacking. You know, stuff like that.” Jay answered.

They were all so caught up in conversation, that they didn’t notice they had already arrived to Shion. But when they all stopped talking and took a look at their surroundings, it wasn’t a pretty picture. The whole village had been destroyed. There was smoke rising, buildings were falling apart and it was completely desolate. They decided to look around the village to see if there were any survivors.

Ren pointed out a survivor by a nearby building. He bent down facing the man, who appeared to be a huntsman.

“Sir, are you alright? What happened?” Ren questioned.

“Bandits attacked... nothing was spared. Then, when the panic started to set in…” the huntsman coughed out.

“Grimm.” Ren said as he looked up at his teammates.

He got up from where he was kneeling and walked away from the group. Ruby suggested they take him to the next village and try to find a doctor. Jay agreed with the plan and added that Ren and him can take turns carrying him. Nora questioned if the huntsman would even make it. With all the chatter, they didn’t notice what had happened next until Ren got their attention. They all looked over and suddenly, a rush of sadness came over them. The huntsman had died.

“Should we bury him?” Nora wondered.

“We should just go. It’s not safe here.” Ren said as he walked away from the group with his head facing the ground.

Nora looked at Jay and Ruby before she followed Ren to wherever he was going. The two leaders looked at one another in comfort. They knew this was hard but Ren was right, it wasn’t safe to be there. The two of them left the village with their friends, all of them feeling the reality of their situation setting in.

Later on that night as they all slept, Jay tossed and turned… he was having another nightmare. The same one that he’s had over and over again and he just wanted it to stop. Finally, he woke up with a jolt; breathing heavily as he sat up in his sleeping bag. He needed to get away for a bit, so he got up from the ground and headed over to a small clearing nearby.

He was covered in sweat, his shirt sticking to his skin. He took off his shirt and threw it to the ground. He looked down at his scar and placed his hand over top of it. He knew what that scar represented, it was another reminder that she wasn’t there. He hated it. As he breathed in a heavy sigh, he placed himself down onto the ground and pulled out his scroll. He opened the photo tab and started to look at pictures of him and Pyrrha together.

As he scrolled through the pictures, he came across a video. He tapped on it to view it and it started to play. It was of him and Pyrrha. She had grabbed his scroll after they had just finished sparring. They were both laughing and smiling. As he watched the video, Jay felt himself starting to tear up. He tried to tell himself not to cry, but eventually he couldn’t hold back any longer. The tears started to fall hard as he continued to watch the video of him and Pyrrha. He just missed her so goddamn much.

What Jay didn’t realize was Ruby had woken up from another nightmare and she had noticed Jay wasn’t in his sleeping bag. She had walked over to the clearing Jay was at and she saw him cry as he watched the video. She didn’t want to bother him and she decided to leave him alone for now. She walked back to the camp worried about her friend.


	2. There's Gonna Be a Fight Tonight

Jay wasn’t completely sure how much time Ruby thought this trip would take. It had been a few weeks and they were still walking, with quite a ways to go until they reach Mistral. She told him, Ren and Nora that she had thought this trip would take only a few weeks. The lack of forethought was astounding. He knew she grew up on a small island, but he never would’ve thought it would’ve impacted her sense of time or direction.

As the four of them continued to walk down the road, Nora pointed out the village in front of them. This confused everyone, because they all thought they wouldn’t be encountering another village until much later. Nora hopped up on top of a nearby log to get a better view of the place. She looked around and noticed the buildings there were damaged. She shared her observation with her friends and they all made the decision to check it out for survivors. This had started to become commonplace whenever they reached a new village; it was quite the depressing reality.

The group split apart and looked around the area, to make sure if there was still anybody left alive. After searching for a while, they couldn’t find any survivors. As they talked about what they should do next, Nora broke apart from the group to check out a sign in the middle of of the town square. Once she got a good look at what was on it, she called the group over to share what she had found. 

“Oniyuri… I’ve never heard of it.” Nora said.

“Can’t say I have either.” Jay added.

“I have.” Ren said, as the group turned to face him.

Ren started to go into detail about Oniyuri. How it came to be as a result of some of the upper class of Mistral not being happy with how the kingdom was run. So they had all pooled their resources together to build their own city, with laws that corresponded to how they wanted it to be run. They had thought that one day it could be it’s own kingdom, that this was the future. As he continued to talk, he brought up how his parents even thought this could be true. But by the look on his face and the state of the village surrounding them, the group could tell his parents hopes were dashed.

“So, what happened?” Ruby questioned.

“What always happens.” Ren answered, as he wiped away some dust from a nearby fence; which revealed a claw mark.

“The grimm.” Jay acknowledged in a sullen tone.

“Not just anyone.” Ren said with his fists clenched at his side.

“Wait, one?” Ruby wondered, before they were all taken out of their thoughts by some birds who flew above them.

“Guys, let's just try to get through this area.” Jay suggested, as they all started to continue to walk through the village.

They continued to search as they walked. But suddenly, Ren put his hand up to the group to stop them. They were confused at first, but they knew something was up when they all saw him take his weapons out. So they all followed his lead and did the same, making sure they were on alert for whatever threat was headed their way. Suddenly they saw an older man coming at them from above and when he hit the ground all hell broke loose.

They all tried to take him on, but every time they would try to hit he would just kick them back. After a misstep on his part, the stranger went right into a nearby building. The four friends got up from the ground and surrounded him.

“Hey! We’re not looking for a fight!” Jay yelled.

“-Yeah, who are you? Ren added, as the stranger leapt from the building onto the ground in front of them.

“Who I am does not matter to you. Or you… but you my blonde haired friend, you do interest me. You look awfully familiar, I just can’t quite put my finger on it. But anyways, I’m getting ahead of myself. For you see, I only matter to you.” The stranger said as he went through the lot of them until he ended at Ruby.

“Me?” Ruby asked with a hint of fear in her voice. 

“You haven’t the slightest idea do you? This going to be quite exciting for you isn’t it?” The man said as he cackled.

“What do you want with me?” Ruby questioned with a more authoritative tone.

“Ooohh, you’re feisty! You see my dear, I’m here to take you away with me.”

“What happens if she doesn’t want to go with you?” Nora said, as she placed herself in front of Ruby.

“Well, I’ll still take her. It really doesn’t matter what you try to do to me.”

“She’s not going with you, you creep. She’s staying here with us.” Jay said as he stepped towards the stranger, looking ready to fight.

“My friend, I’m going to be taking her with me whether you like it or not. So it’s best not to test me.”

“STOP CALLING ME YOUR FRIEND! I don’t even know you.” Jay yelled back.

“You know what, it’s coming back to me now. Does this mean anything to you?” The stranger smirked, as he took a photo out of his coat pocket and tossed it towards Jay’s feet.

Jay picked up the photo from off the ground and looked at it. He couldn’t believe it, it was a picture of him, his sister and his parents. How did this guy get this? He was starting to panic, but he wanted answers.

“How did you get this?” Jay asked with venom in his voice.

“Ahh, that’s why you’re so familiar. You’re that couple’s son in the picture.” The stranger said with a slightly off smile.

“How did you know my parents?” 

“Oh you wouldn’t want to kno-” The man started to say, before Jay picked him up by the collar.

“I’M NOT HERE TO PLAY GAMES! TELL ME HOW YOU KNEW MY PARENTS!” Jay demanded.

“You really want to know? Well, if you insist. About six years ago, I came across them along a pathway outside of Vale. They seemed like such a lovely couple, it’s a shame what happened to them.”

“What did you do to them!?” 

“They just couldn’t keep their noses out of my lady’s business. So in order for them to get the message, I had to… dispose of them.” The stranger said with a small smirk, as he started to cackle.

“That can’t be true! The police investigating said my parents’ death was an accident.”

“Oh please, the police officers working that case were a joke. I find it an insult that they even thought it was accidental. Some people just can’t appreciate great handiwork. Face it kid, I killed your parents. I would do it again if I could, just to see the pain and suffering on their faces one more time.” 

Jay slowly released the stranger from his grip, as he fell to the floor while continuing to cackle. Jay could not believe it. Everything he was told about his parents death was a lie. The only emotion he could feel at the moment was pure, unadulterated rage; and he couldn’t contain it anymore. His friends stood behind him, taking in what they were told as well. They all knew Jay’s parents died, but like him, they thought it was an accident.

Jay wanted this creep to pay for what he put his parents’s through. While the man in front of him continued to laugh, he took an opportunity to punch him square in the jaw. The man turned his head towards Jay, got up from the ground and said, 

“I told you not to test me and now you and your friends are going to suffer the consequences.” 

Immediately, the stranger made his way behind Jay and bonked him on the head. This knocked him out cold and his friends rushed over to move him out of the way. Before they could, he pushed Ren back onto the ground. Nora and Ruby looked at each other and nodded. 

Nora made her way to the other side, with the man following her. Ruby switched her weapon to her sniper rifle and aimed towards their enemy. When she pulled the trigger, the dust missed their opponent and hit Nora. The man chortled at the apparent mistake in front of him. He wondered how they could be that incompetent. But the joke was on him, as Nora got up from the ground and came up behind him to whack him with her hammer. Ruby had given her an extra jolt so to speak.

When the dust cleared away from Nora’s mighty attack, it revealed a surprise. It was a scorpion’s tail.

“Surprise kiddos!” The stranger said, as he tore off his coat and leaped up onto the roof of a nearby building.

 

“Guys, he’s a Faunus?” Ren said in confusion.

“What is this about? Is it the White Fang or was it Roman Torchwick?” Ruby asked.

“Oh please, they are only pawns! My whole being belongs to my goddess.” The man proclaimed.

“CInder.” 

“Heaven’s no. The only way that girl would ever be considered my goddess, was if it was in her own dreams!” He said, as he jumped off the roof. 

After a while, Jay was finally starting to come to. He could see Ruby and an older gentleman fighting that creep. He remembered seeing him in a picture and sure enough, he remembered who it was; Ruby's Uncle Qrow. When he got up from the ground, he was joined by Ren and Nora. Nora said,

"Are you ok? You were hit pretty hard." 

"I'm fine, I just need to-" Jay said, before being interrupted by seeing something horrid. Ruby's uncle was stabbed by the henchman's tail. Qrow wasn't looking so good. Tyrian, made his way over to Ruby, but he was blocked by her friends. They all had their weapons out, ready to defend their friend and her uncle.

“You take one more step towards her, we’ll be your worst nightmare.” Jay snarled.

Tyrian backed away in cowardice, all they could hear from him was his own reassurance that his queen would forgive him. He ran away from them, with small screams escaping his lungs as he got away from them.

The three friends turned around and looked at Ruby, as she knelt beside her uncle. He was clearly in pain and they needed to get him out of the village fast. Ren and Jay each wrapped one of Qrow’s arms around their shoulders and they carried him out. Ruby and Nora walked behind them, both wondering how this situation could get any worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	3. Healing

Jay tossed and turned, he wished his brain could turn off just for one night. They were able to get Qrow out of the village and find a place to camp for the night. Before they all went to bed however, Qrow had told them about a variety of things they all wanted to know. He told them about the Four Maidens, the state of the other kingdoms, Salem, why Tyrian wanted to bring Ruby to her and the story of the two brothers and how the world came to be. For Jay, it was a lot to take in. He wasn’t sure how Qrow could always take Ozpin’s word on any of this. How could he never question him about anything. What if he was wrong? What would he do then?

But truth be told, that wasn’t the only thing on his mind. He couldn’t stop thinking about the truth revealed to him earlier in the day. The past six years, everybody thought his parents had died because of an accident. Instead, some psychopath killed them and left them for dead. He was furious, the police didn’t do as well as he thought they did investigating the scene. How could they think it was accidental? How long did his parents have to suffer? How long had they been there before they were found? 

He was filled with so many emotions and he felt like he couldn’t share them with anybody. He knew everybody else was dealing with their own problems, why should he burden them with his issues. God he wished Pyrrha was here right now, maybe she could tell him what to do. He felt so lost without her. He just wished everything could be the way it was before, but unfortunately, that could never happen. He decided to try and get some sleep before the sun came up. So he closed his eyes and drifted off.

As the sun rose the next morning, Ren was the first person to wake up. He looked around at his comrades and said,

“We should probably get ready and start moving.” 

“Yeah, I’ll get right on it.” Jay said in a tired voice.

At this point, Ruby and Nora had also woken up. All everyone could hear at this point was the sound of Qrow coughing and moaning. Ruby got up from her sleeping bag to check on her uncle. When she got over there, she could see purple ooze bleeding through his bandage. She looked over at her friends and they all knew that at this point, Qrow was getting worse.

They all got changed and packed, placed Qrow on a homemade stretcher and started to walk. As they walked, everyone could hear Ruby constantly reassuring her uncle he would be alright. They walked quite a ways before they came across a fork in the road. Damn, a decision would have to be made. Ren walked ahead of the group to see what the signs read. To the right, there were signs leading to Kuchinashi and then to Mistral. To the left, there was a sign with Kuroyuri but it was crossed out.

“Hey guys! We did it! We’re on the right path! Oh…” Nora said, realizing the situation.

“Is there any indication to how far away it is?” Ruby asked.

“No, there’s nothing. It looks like the path is just going to make us go through the mountains.” Ren answered.

“Guys, Qrow is not going to be able to make that trek through the mountains. What are we going to do?” Jay wondered.

“What about this other place, Kuroyuri? Maybe we can find help there.” Ruby suggested.

“We can’t. That village was destroyed years ago.” Ren said, with his fists clenched.

“But Ren, it’s worth a try if it can take us around the mountains.” Jay said.

“It would take us too long Jay.” Ren said.

“Would there be a doctor there who could help us. If not, we could always see if there’s any medication?” Ruby asked.

“We could try.” Jay offered in support.

“We’re not going to find anything there guys. We need to keep going!” Ren said, growing more and more agitated.

The whole group went silent, they had never seen Ren this mad before. Jay decided to try to reach out to his teammate. But before he could ask Ren what was wrong, Nora stepped in and said,

“We can split up. Ren and I can go through the mountains, while you and Jay take your uncle through the village.” Nora suggested.

“Guys, what about us sticking together? Wouldn’t that be the safest option?” Jay said.

“We don’t have time to be concerned with safety! We’ll bring back help once we make it to Mistral. Even if we can’t, we’ll at least be able to scope out the land better with that view. We could find an alternate pathway.” Nora said, trying to be optimistic about the situation.

Everyone turned back to look at Qrow, who was still coughing. Nora was right, this seemed like the best plan. Jay turned to Ren and Nora and agreed with them. Along with Ruby, he hugged both of his friends and wished them a safe trip. They told Ruby and Jay the same thing. Once everyone said their goodbyes, the group split in two and off they went.

“I’m sure they’ll be ok Jay.” Ruby offered in support.

“I hope you’re right Ruby.” Jay said in a despondent tone.

Ruby knew something was bothering Jay, she just wished he would talk about it. He was there for her, Ren and Nora, but he never talked about how he was doing. Maybe it was his way to cope with everything going on, but Ruby knew something was up with him and she wanted to know so she could help.

After walking for quite awhile, they finally reached Kuroyuri. Like every other village they’ve come across, it was abandoned. It was like Ren said, the place was destroyed. They placed Qrow against a tree and then split up to see if they could find any resources. They took their time looking for anything that could help Qrow, but they could not find anything. They decided to head back over towards Ruby’s uncle, so that they could keep an eye on him. While Ruby stayed beside her uncle, Jay stood in front of them to watch for anybody suspicious.

After hearing an ominous voice off in the distance, Jay raised his fists. Ruby reassured him by saying it was too far away from them, so he put his hands back to his sides. Ruby was wondering how to talk to Jay, he seemed so distant. The whole time they were walking he never said a word. She just didn’t know how he was going to react. She decided to just take the plunge and just ask him what was bothering him.

“Hey Jay, are you ok?” Ruby asked with caution.

“Ruby, I’m fine. We need to focus.” Jay said, staring straight ahead.

“That’s a lie.”

“Ruby, I told you I’m fine.”

“Don’t do that to me Jay. I know you’re not alright. You’re always checking in with Ren, Nora and I, but no one is checking in on you. What’s going on?”

“Ugghh. You really want to know what’s going on Ruby? Fine. For starters, I just found out that my parents were murdered and that what I’ve been told about what happened to them was a lie. I’ve had to split up from my teammates for the sake of this mission. What’s worse, I lost the girl I loved back at Beacon and I never got to tell her how I felt. I never even got to say goodbye. She promised me she would be back, but she never came back! Why didn’t she come back Ruby, tell me WHY!!” Jay said in complete rage.  
Jay looked at Ruby and realized what he had just done. He just took all of his anger out on her. Man he felt like a jackass. He dropped down to the ground and started to cry. 

As he cried he began to pour out all of his feelings.

“I’m sorry Ruby. I should have never have yelled at you like that. You were just trying to help. Everything is falling apart so fast and I don’t know if I can keep up. I’m just… I am sick and tired of all of us losing everything. Now that I know what happened to my parents, it’s like I’m losing them all over again. And Pyrrha… I miss her so much. She was one of the brightest lights of my life and now she’s gone. What am I going to do, because at this point I’m not even sure anymore.”

“Jay, you don’t have to bury your feelings anymore. Don’t ever feel like you’re a burden, we want to talk to you like how you’ve helped us. Pyrrha told me a long time ago what you promised. You promised her that you would open up to her, well I want you to promise to start opening up to us too. It’s what she would’ve wanted.”

“You’re right, it’s what she would’ve wanted. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t very open with my feelings when I lost my parents. I guess it just became how I chose to deal with things. But I can’t be like that anymore. Thanks Ruby.” Jay said, wiping away a stray tear from his face.

“No problem. If we’re being honest right now, I feel like a lot of this is my fault. For dragging you, Ren and Nora with me.” Ruby opened up.

“Ruby, it’s not your fault. We came with you, because we wanted to. Despite everything you’ve lost Ruby, you still came all the way out here to make a difference. We wanted to come with you because we felt the same way. You inspired us to try and I’m thankful for that. So don’t ever feel like you dragged us into this situation. We came with you because you inspired us to follow your example. Always be proud of that.” Jay said, placing a hand on Ruby’s shoulder.

In that moment, Jay and Ruby felt more supported than ever before. They were thankful that they were there for each other to talk to. As they continued to watch over Qrow, they hoped and prayed their friends make it safely to Mistral.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the lateness of this chapter, as I've been dealing with a cold. But, I'm feeling much better now and I thank you for your patience. Enjoy the chapter and thanks for reading!


	4. Mistral

Today had been exhausting. Ren and Nora had shown up to Kuroyuri, much to the surprise of Ruby and Jay. They thought they would’ve been on their way to Mistral by now, but they had come to warn their friends of a threat coming towards them. That threat was revealed to be a demon from Ren and Nora’s childhood, the Nuckelavee. It was the grimm that destroyed Kuroyuri and the beast that killed Ren’s parents. They knew they had to take that thing down.

The fight had been hard, the beast was quite tough. It seemed like the odds were too stacked against them. They felt like they were letting Ren and Nora down, not being able to take down the creature that haunted them every single day. Every time they attacked, the grimm would push back even harder. This got Ren to be even more reckless during the battle, which freaked everyone out; especially Nora.

But after a pep talk from his ginger haired friend, Ren was able to calm down and focus on the threat that stood before them. Ruby came up with a plan, which required them to all work as a team. Sure enough, the plan was successful. Each member fulfilled their part of the plan, with Ren finishing him with one last strike. He decapitated the Nuckelavee’s head, which killed it instantly. Ren literally and figuratively faced his demons. For the first time in a while, he actually felt at peace.

They were surrounded with silence, until they all heard a loud noise coming from above. The noise had been coming from two aircraft carriers, that had landed in front of the group of five. Ruby, who had brought her uncle Qrow back with the group looked down at him and smiled. There might be a chance to save him after all. The pilots of the aircraft placed Qrow onto a stretcher and placed him aboard the ship. Jay joined Ruby and her uncle on one ship, while Ren and Nora boarded the other. Once everyone was situated, both ships took flight.

While Ruby knelt beside Qrow, Jay decided to talk to the pilot.

“So, how were you guys able to find us out in the middle of nowhere?” Jay asked.

“Well, we were out on patrol when we saw the smoke. We thought it was odd, since no-one had been out in that area for years. We decided to check it out, we figured something was wrong” The pilot answered.

“What if we don’t make it in time?” Ruby asked, in fear of what could happen to her uncle.

Ruby’s fears were put to rest however when Jay told her to look out ahead. There, off in the distance, was Mistral. All of their hard work and sacrifice had paid off, they had made it to their destination. Ruby smiled, her uncle was going to be saved. She looked down at her uncle and held his hand even tighter than before. This made Jay smile in response, he was happy that Ruby was happy. They had fought against all odds and made it to Mistral.

Once the plane landed, they headed straight for the hospital to get Qrow some help. They got him checked in and the doctors assured them that he would be fine. Ruby said goodbye to her uncle and she left with her friends. As they walked around, they took in all the beauty of Mistral. There were so many sights to see, places to explore and vendors to buy goods from. The whole place screamed adventure.

“So, where are we headed to now?” Nora asked, as they continued to walk.

“Well, we need to find a place where we can stay at for a while.” Ren answered.

“How are we gonna find a place on such short notice?” Ruby wondered, with slight worry in her voice.

“Don’t worry about it guys, I know just the place. I actually have family that live here in Mistral. My mom was originally from here and her mom still lives here. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind letting us stay for a while. She’s all by herself here, ever since my grandpa passed away a few years ago.” Jay offered.

“Awesome! Our luck is starting to turn up. Hopefully she will agree to it.” Ruby said.

“I’m sure she will, she loves me.” Jay replied, as the group started to follow him to his grandma’s house.

They walked for about thirty minutes, until they finally made it to Jay’s maternal grandmother’s house. The house was beautiful. It was an old fashioned building, with a bit of a modern twist. It blended well with the architecture seen throughout Mistral. As Ruby, Ren and Nora took in the beauty of the house, Jay walked up the steps and knocked on the door. After waiting for a few moments, the door swung open to reveal Jay’s grandma. Her name was Chloe Stavros.

“Jason Elias Arc! Where in the hell have you been? You couldn’t of come to see your old grandma sooner?!” The old lady said, as she wrapped her grandson in a hug.

“I’m sorry it’s been so long, I had school.” Jay said.

“That’s fine dear I’m just messing with you. Who are these people with you?”

“Oh, these are my friends. This is Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie and Ruby Rose. I met them back at Beacon Academy.”

“Brilliant. Why don’t you all come in for a drink, you’re probably thirsty.”

“That would be great! Thank you.” Ruby said, as they followed Jay’s grandma into the house.

After sitting with Jay’s grandma for a while, they told her all about what had happened in the last little while. They told her about the fall of Beacon, the loss of Pyrrha, why Ruby was separated from her teammates, the truth about the death of Jay’s parents and why they had come to Mistral. It was a lot for her to take in, especially the truth about how her daughter and her son in law passed away. She looked at her grandson and his friends and said,

“Well, I’m just glad that all of you are ok after all you’ve been through. You’re all quite brave to take on this journey.”

“That’s very kind of you ma’am.” Ren said, as he sipped his tea.

“Actually grandma, there’s something I want to ask you. We just got here and we have no place to stay. Do you mind if we stay here for a while?” Jay asked.

“Of course you all can! You’ll be providing some company for this old gal.” 

“Excuse me ma’am, this might be too much to ask, but is it alright if my uncle Qrow can stay here once he gets out of the hospital?” Ruby asked.

“Sure, I don’t care. I’d rather you all be here then on the street. He can stay up in the guest room, while you four can have the two bedrooms down in the basement.”

“Thanks grandma! You have no idea how much we all appreciate this.” Jay said, as he hugged his grandma once more.

“Yeah yeah, I know. Why don’t you all get settled in your rooms downstairs, while I make us some dinner.” Chloe suggested, as the four teens headed downstairs with their stuff.

Later on that night, as the four of them went to bed, Jay stared at the ceiling; thinking about all they had been through. The journey was long and filled with danger, but they had all come together to face the challenge together and they made it to Mistral. He wondered what else they would find on their travels and he couldn’t wait to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	5. Breaking The News

It had been a while since Jay and the gang arrived in Mistral and things were shaping up to be even wilder then what they had expected. After a visit with Professor Lionheart, they were able to learn some new information. The first thing being the existence of one of the relics, the relic of knowledge. The second being about the Spring Maiden and her possible whereabouts. If that wasn’t enough, when they arrived back at his grandmother’s house, they found out Professor Ozpin was now sharing a body with a teenage boy named Oscar Pine. It was almost too much information to take in at once. Long story short, they now had another guest staying with them; make that two I guess.

Today however, they had a different goal in mind. Ever since the four of them got to Mistral, they knew there was something important they all had to do. The Fall of Beacon had caused the Communication Tower to fall in Vale; meaning that nobody could communicate any information to the other kingdoms. Because of this, some information could not be reported… this included the death of Pyrrha Nikos. So, Ruby, Jay, Nora and Ren decided to head over to where Pyrrha’s parents lived so that they could tell them what happened to their daughter.

Jay knew Pyrrha’s address from seeing her sending letters back to her parents. In fact, it wasn’t that far away from where his grandmother lived, so it would be a pretty short walk. As the four of them walked towards the house, they all felt nervous and sorrowful for what they were about to do. They wished they didn’t have to do this, they really wished Pyrrha was still alive so that her parents could still have their daughter. But unfortunately, they would never be able to see her again and they knew that this had to be done.

After ten minutes of walking, they finally reached their destination. Jay led the pack, with Ruby beside him and Ren and Nora behind them. The house in front of them was nothing special, but it was modest and it looked cozy. The four friends walked up the small staircase and stopped in front of the door. Jay looked back at Ren and Nora and then to Ruby. With a deep breath and sigh, he reached over and knocked on the door. After waiting a few moments, a tall, slender woman answered the door. She looked at the four teenagers and said,

“Hello, how can I help you all today?” 

“Uh hi, my name is Jay Arc. This is Ruby Rose, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. We know your daughter Pyrrha.” 

“Oh I recognize you all from Pyrrha’s letters. She had so many nice things to say about you all. Is she here with you by any chance?”

“Actually, that’s kind of why we’re here ma’am. We need to talk to you about Pyrrha… something happened.” Ruby added, her head hanging low.

“Ok… come on in. I’ll get my husband Chrysanthos and you can say what you need to say.” Pyrrha’s mom said, as she allowed the four of them into her home.

They followed their fallen comrade’s mother through the front hallway all the way to the sitting room. The four of them sat down and waited as Pyrrha’s mom went to grab everyone a beverage. They sat in complete silence, they could feel themselves starting to sweat. They were all taken out of their thoughts when they saw her walk in with the drinks and a tall man with red hair walking behind her. As she placed the drinks down onto the coffee table, the man spoke up and said in a deep voice,

“Hello there. My name is Chrysanthos and you’ve already met my wife Cyanea. I understand you’ve come here to talk about our daughter. Where is she? Why isn’t she with you?”

“Well as you saw… during the Vytal Tournament, something happened. Some very evil people infiltrated the event. They tampered with every aspect, including the incident  
involving Pyrrha and Penny, the girl from Atlas. Believe me, it wasn’t her fault.” Jay said. 

“We were so concerned when we saw that. We didn’t know why our daughter would act so aggressively.” Cyanea said.

“Yeah we were too, but that’s not what we need to tell you.” Ren added.

“What is it?” Chrysanthos asked.

“Those evil people we mentioned earlier, they caused a whole lot of chaos. Grimm were all over the place, people had to be evacuated and even the communication tower in Vale was destroyed. That’s why we couldn’t get the information to you sooner.” Nora answered.

“Her and I then went to the vault with our headmaster, Professor Ozpin. Pyrrha was taken down there because Professor Ozpin wanted her to take over the Fall Maiden’s powers with a risky procedure. I had gotten hurt pretty badly protecting her, but she was able to save me and get me out of there.” Jay added.

“It was at that moment, Pyrrha decided that she wanted to be the one to take down whoever was responsible. I tried to get up there to help her… but I was too late.” Ruby said as she started to tear up.

“What do you mean? What are you trying to say?” Cyanea wondered.

“We’re really sorry to tell you this but… she’s gone.” Jay said, as he bursted into full blown tears.

Pyrrha’s parents looked at the four teenagers in shock. They couldn’t believe their daughter was gone. All of those months where they hoped and prayed she would be alright and she wasn’t. They couldn’t cry, not right now. So they decided to put up a strong front until they could be alone to cry. Chrysanthos moved over beside his wife and pulled her closer to him.

“I know this won’t make things any better, but I want you to know that your daughter died protecting everyone she ever cared about. In a way, she helped save the school.” Ruby said.

“I’m not surprised, our Pyrrha was always very considerate of others. She was a very selfless girl. Listen, we want you to know that we don’t want you blaming yourselves to what happened to our daughter. Whatever happened to her, is the fault of those evil people.” Cyanea said honestly.

“We want to thank you for telling us, I know it probably wasn’t easy for you to do that. We appreciate you being honest. Now, if you excuse us, we would like to have some time alone to process everything.” Chrysanthos asked.

“Absolutely, thank you for allowing us to come into your home.” Ren offered.

“If there’s anything we can do, please let us know.” Nora said.

“We will… thank you.” Pyrrha’s parents said together.

Before the group could leave, Jay turned around and grabbed the box he brought with him. He placed it before Pyrrha’s parents and said,

“Before I forget, I wanted to give you this. This box has Pyrrha’s armour in it, they found it at the top of the school. I wish we could bring her back, I really wish we could. But, at least there is this small piece of her left. We want you to have it.” 

Pyrrha’s parents thanked the group again and once they felt that they needed to be alone, they left.

After the group left the house, they all felt emotionally exhausted. Ruby, Ren and Nora were going to back to the house, but Jay insisted they go ahead without him. They decided not to ask him any questions and just let him do what he needed to do. As he walked away from his teammates, Jay started to head towards one of the local gyms. When he got there, he asked if there were any private boxing studios he could rent for an hour. The owner of the gym said yes and Jay paid the appropriate amount to rent one of them.

Once he got into the boxing studio, all he could see was the punching bag in the middle of the room. He shut the door behind him and took off his shirt. Once he got closer to the heavy bag, he started punching. It started off slow, but the angrier and grief stricken he felt, the harder he punched. Eventually, it got to a point where he just lost himself completely to his emotions as he hit the bag harder.

Finally, when he couldn’t take it anymore, he gave the bag one last punch. As soon he did that, he collapsed right to the floor. Once he hit the ground, he started to sob, letting all of his emotions pour out. He missed her so fucking much, he just wanted her back with everyone; but he knew that it would never happen. She was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Please forgive the lateness of this upload, as I had to take care of my dog who was diagnosed with pancreatitis. Her health comes first to me and she's doing much better now. Anyways, I hope you guys like this chapter and thanks for reading!


	6. Reunion

There was a lot going on in the kitchen today as everyone was busy cooking up a storm. Qrow was supposed to be bringing over some huntsmen back to the house later tonight and they wanted to make sure they were all well fed. They were making a traditional hot pot and so far it was going great. Nora and Jay were cutting vegetables, Ruby was grilling the meat and Ren was in charge of boiling the water. Jay’s grandmother was supervising, making sure none of them cut off their fingers or burn themselves.

“Thanks again Chloe for letting us use your home to host this gathering.” Ruby said.

“It’s no problem kid. It’s not like I already have a shit load of people already taking over my house. Oh right… I do. Joking aside, I really don’t mind you all staying here. I’d rather you all be at my place than be on the street.” Chloe remarked.

“Again, we really appreciate it grandma. How’s the water coming along Ren?” Jay asked.

“It hasn’t started to boil yet, it’s going to take a bit. How are the vegetables?” Ren added.

“Well we would have more of them if Nora would stop eating them.” Jay pointed out.

“What… I’m hungry.” Nora said with stuffed cheeks.

“Well the meat’s coming along ok.” Ruby assured her squad.

“Uh Ruby, the meats starting to get overcooked.” Ren said, pointing towards the meat.

Ruby had been so caught up in what everyone else was doing, she wasn’t paying as close enough attention to what she should’ve been doing. She quickly took the meat off of the frying pan and placed it on a plate. She added more meat to the pan and made sure she watched over her station. After a bit more cooking, they were almost done. As they were finishing everything up, they could hear Qrow call for Ruby from the living room. Jay’s grandma offered to take over Ruby’s place in the kitchen. 

Just as they were getting everything plated and set up, they could hear the tea set being dropped onto the ground. Jay, Ren and Nora were worried something may have happened. They all ran out to the living room and they were stunned. There, in the center, was Ruby hugging Yang and Weiss. They all wondered how they got there, but they could ask them that later. Right now, they were just happy that their friend was reunited with most of her team.

As the the three girls separated from their hug, Weiss turned her attention towards Jay. She couldn’t believe he was here in front of her. She didn’t want to admit it, but she missed him a lot. She moved closer to him and she noticed him moving closer to her. Eventually, she ran up to him and threw her arms around his neck, with him pulling her close to him. They stayed like this for a bit before eventually tearing themselves apart from each other. 

“Guys dinner’s all ready and I-” Jay’s grandmother started to say, before she saw all of the people standing in her living room.

“Great, my home is becoming a hotel.” Jay’s grandmother sighed, as she headed out back towards the kitchen.

It was later in the evening and after dinner had finished, Jay decided to go workout in his grandma’s home gym downstairs. But this wasn’t just any plain home gym, oh no, it was a wide open space filled to the brim with workout equipment. Even better, there was a sliding door that opened up the whole room to the outside. Jay decided to open it up, so that he could workout with the fresh breeze coming in. It was beautiful. He was glad that his grandma was still active even in her old age.

Jay started his workout off with some cardio on the treadmill, incorporating interval training. Then he did some weight training with various weights. After working out for a while, he was getting really sweaty. So, he decided to take off his shirt for the remainder of the workout. Once he got his shirt off, he looked down at his scar; he still hated looking at that thing. He took himself out of his own thoughts and he started to work on the heavy bag in the middle of the room.

As he continued to work the bag, he was able to tune out the world and focus on his task. He was so focused that he didn’t hear a certain someone coming down the stairs. When they got to the bottom of the stairs, the mystery person said,

“Old habits are hard to break aren’t they Jay?”

Jay looked up and saw that Weiss had come down to see him. He smiled as he remembered the time she asked him why he worked out late at night instead of during the day. She was right, old habits were hard to break. He instantly felt insecure as he remembered his scar was open for her to see. If he didn’t like looking at it, he certainly didn’t like it when other people saw it. He turned away from her, hoping she wouldn’t notice his panic.

“Jay, you don’t have to hide from me. I’m not bothered by your scar.” Weiss said, as Jay turned around surprised. He turned and looked into her eyes. Somehow he felt a little bit better knowing she didn’t care, but the panic still sat at the back of his mind.

“Ok… so what brings you down here?” he asked her.

“Oh, I wanted to see if you wanted to talk? But if you’re busy I can go back upstairs.”

“No, I’m done for the night anyway. Why don’t we go sit by the open window?”

“Sure, I’d like that.” Weiss said with a smile.

The two of them moved over by where the sliding door was opened and they both sat beside each other on the ledge. They sat close to one another in silence for a bit, just enjoying each other’s company. After a while, Jay spoke up and said,

“So, what was it like back at home?” 

“Honestly, it was awful. My mother was her usual self, she couldn’t put down the bottle. My father is still a selfish brute and now my brother is the heir to the Schnee Dust Company; all because I decided to open my mouth. It didn’t help when I accidentally summoned a boarbatusk at the fundraiser either, but that was an accident. But he infuriates me, not thinking about what I want. Only what he wants.”

“That sucks Weiss. You know you can be yourself around us right?”

“I know, that’s why I was so happy to be reunited with all of you. With you guys, I don’t have to feel the pressure to live up to someone’s unreasonable expectations. I’ve learned so much since I was at Beacon and I can thank you all for that.”

“Well, I’m glad we could help.”

“You know, you were the person that I thought I would never get along with. But, look where we are now. I feel like I can talk to you about anything.”

“Me too Weiss, I feel the same way.” Jay said.

As they continued to chat, Jay noticed Weiss was still wearing the bracelet he made her. But he also noticed there was something different about it, it looked cleaner.

“So Weiss, I see your still wearing the bracelet I made you.” Jay said with a grin.

“Yeah I am and I saw you looking at it Jay. Did you miss me that much?” Weiss responded in a teasing manner.

“Oh yeah Weiss, I just couldn’t live another day without you with me.” Jay answered in an equally teasing tone.

“I thought so. But anyways, you’ve probably noticed it looks a little different. It’s because my father threw it into the fireplace when he saw me wearing it.”

“I’ll kick his ass.”

“That’s sweet of you but, my butler Klein was able to get it out of the fireplace and he fixed it for me.”

“That’s nice of him. It looks even better than before.”

“Yeah, Klein’s been in my life since I was a baby. He acts more like a father to me than my actual father.”

“He sounds great. You’re lucky to have him Weiss.”

“Yeah, I just wish I didn’t have to leave him behind with my father.”

“I know it’s hard, but you’ll see him again someday.”

“I hope so. But it’s nice to be around you guys again.” Weiss said, looking into Jay’s eyes.

Weiss wondered what Jay would think of what she was about to do, but she would only know if she actually did it. She moved closer to her companion and rested her head against his shoulder. Jay was taken aback by the contact, but he eventually felt more comfortable enough to lean in a bit closer as well. They sat like this for awhile and both of them had never felt so close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	7. Talks and Training

Jay woke up from his deep slumber, stretching out his limbs and yawning. It was about seven thirty in the morning, a little later than he usually woke up because he decided to not rush out of bed this morning. He got up from his bed and walked over to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Once he was finished, he walked down to the kitchen showered and empowered, dressed for the day. 

He wanted to start the day off right, so he decided to make some breakfast. He made some oatmeal and cut up some bananas to go in it. For his drink, he wanted to make a cup of coffee. So he decided to make a whole pot, knowing that more people would be up soon and so that everyone could have some. He pulled up a chair and sat down with his breakfast and coffee, enjoying the deliciousness.

As he was eating, he could hear someone come down the stairs and they were headed to the kitchen. That person turned out to be Weiss.

“Good morning Jay.” she greeted.

“Morning Weiss. What are you doing up this early? I never took you for an early bird.” Jay wondered. 

“I never did like waking up late, just ask Ruby. She never liked me waking her up this early back at Beacon.” 

“Ok fair enough. So um, I made a pot of coffee earlier if you want some.”

“That was very thoughtful of you. I’m also going to grab some coffee for Ruby and Yang if you don’t mind.”

“No go ahead, that’s what I made it for.” 

“Perfect, thanks.”

“It’s no problem.” Jay replied, giving her a small smile as she headed outside with a tray full of coffee.

When Weiss left, Jay turned his attention back to his breakfast and continued to eat. Once he was finished,, he placed his dishes in the sink and gave them a quick wash. Just as he placed them on the rack to dry, Yang stormed through the back door. Before he could ask her anything, she went right past him to the room she was staying in. He was so confused, what could have Yang so angry?

As he walked over towards the door, he bumped into Weiss, who he figured was going to talk to Yang.

“What’s up with Yang? Is she alright?” Jay asked.

“Well, she’s still mad at Blake for leaving. I think it’s affecting her more than even she realizes. I’m going to try and talk to her.” Weiss answered with a worried look.

“Ok, but what about Ruby? Is she still alone out there?”

“Yeah, I think she’s not sure how to deal with what Yang’s feeling.”

“Hm. Well, I’ll go talk to Ruby. Try to help her out ya know?”

“Sounds good. I’ll talk to you later.” Weiss said, as she walked past him to Yang’s room.

Jay headed outside and he saw Ruby sitting by herself. With his coffee in hand, he walked over towards her and said hello. Once he got seated beside her, he started to talk.

“Ruby, Weiss told me what’s going on and I came out here to ask you about what had happened between you and your sister.”

“Honestly I’m not sure! All I did was say that I wish Blake was with us and she got all mad. When I asked her if she wanted Blake here and she got angrier. I didn’t know what to do and she ended up leaving.” Ruby answered.

“Ruby, I’m going to be honest with you. You’re not exactly the best when it comes to dealing with your sister’s feelings.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, you have no problem expressing how you feel, which is fine. But when it comes to Yang, it’s like you just shut yourself off. It’s almost like you don’t want to have to deal with her emotions, so you just choose not to.”

“That’s not true, I-”

“Ruby… come on. I wasn’t born yesterday.”

“I guess you’re right. But I don’t why I’m like this, I’ve just always been bad with dealing with this type of stuff with Yang. She’s always been this strong personality where she's got a smile and it seems like nothing bothered her if you gave her the room. When she gets mad like that, she usually wants to be left alone and she'll always come back better than ever... even happier than before. But something changed this time, and I feel uneasy. I... I don't know what to do... She's my big sister, she's always been there for me. A part of me thought I knew her best... but now I just feel so useless . What should I do?”

“Well, from my own experience, I would say listening is a great place to start. Pay attention to her, it will make them feel like she’s being heard and it shows that you care. But also respect her if she doesn’t want to talk. Just offer your time to her when she feels ready. It’s little things like that that will help Ruby. Give it a try, you might be surprised with what could come from it.”

“Ya, that makes sense to me. I’m gonna go see if Yang wants to talk. Thanks Jay, this really helped.” Ruby said, as she stood up from the ground.

“Anything for a friend. Let me know how things go between you and Yang.” Jay said, as Ruby smiled and walked away.

Later on in the day, Jay had decided to head down to his grandma’s gym again to workout. He opened up the sliding doors to let the air in and he started his usual routine. When he was on the bike, he was surprised to see Weiss come down the stairs. He stopped what he was doing and said,

“Can I help you?”

“Actually yes, you can.” she said with a slight grin.

“Oh? With what?”

“Well, I know you’re pretty good with this, so I came to you. Can you teach me a bit of hand to hand combat? I was taught a bit by my sister, Winter, but I want to refine it. Can you help me?”

“Sure, since you asked so nicely.” Jay teased, as she let out a small chuckle.

The two of them moved to the center of the room, where there was a large mat covering the majority of the floor. Jay turned to face Weiss and said,

“Ok, I want to get a sense of what you’re good at. So, pretend I’m a Grimm and I’m coming towards you. Once I get closer, I want you to do the first thing that comes to mind. Follow your instincts you know?”

“Right, I can handle that.” Weiss said with confidence.

“All right, here I go!” he said, as he made his way towards Weiss.

When Jay ran towards her, Weiss followed her first thought and when he got closer, she acted on it. When he reached Weiss, she had lifted her leg and kicked him in the family jewels. Once he felt her foot make full contact, he fell over in pain. When she realized what she did, she felt terrible. She knelt beside him and asked,

“Jay are you alright? I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”

Jay looked up at Weiss and instead of having a look of anger on his face, he just started to laugh. She was so confused as to why this was his reaction and asked him,

“Jay, is everything ok?”

“Well, besides being in an extreme amount of pain, I’ve learned something about you Weiss. You have one wicked kick. I never expected that to be honest, but it’s amazing.” Jay said, while holding the part of his body that hurt like hell.

When he said that, Weiss couldn’t help but join him in laughing at the current situation. They stayed there on the mat, just laughing at what was going on. After a little bit, Jay looked at Weiss and asked,

“Hey Weiss, can you help me up? It kind of hurts to move.”

“Of course you big baby.” she said, as she helped him off the ground.

She helped him get to the living room and was going to get him to sit on one of the couches. But as she was helping him sit, she tripped on the carpet by the couch and they both fell back onto it; with Weiss sitting on Jay’s lap. They looked at one another for a minute, unsure of what to do next.

“Um Weiss, if you wanted to hook up with your boy toy, couldn’t you have done that in your room and not in public?” Ruby remarked, as she walked in on the scene.

“Ruby, it’s not what it looks like. I just tripped.” Weiss replied.

“Suuuurrrreeee. Anyways, I’ll leave you two alone.” the red haired girl said, as she went off to go read some comics.

Jay and Weiss looked at each other and the two of them started to laugh again. They couldn’t help it based on what just happened. It was in this moment where they felt completely comfortable in each other’s company.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	8. The Battle at Haven

Everyone could not believe their situation right now. They had went to Haven Academy to meet with Professor Lionheart, only for it to turn out to be a trap. They all felt betrayed, they thought they could trust him; turns out they couldn’t. Even more shocking, Raven had arrived with Cinder, Emerald, Mercury and Vernal that they had never met before. They could feel their blood boil with them all being in their presence. Qrow had to tell all of them to settle down before they did something stupid.

Cinder continued to go on and on about their evil plan, until Ruby had had enough. It was almost like she had burst when she shouted out,

“SHUT UP! You may think you have us beat, but the truth is… you don’t. No matter all the pain and suffering we’ve had to endure because of you and your cronies, it hasn’t knocked us down… not yet. We’re going to keep fighting, no matter what you try and do, we will not be stopped.”

“You think you would ever have a chance against me? How pathetic.” Cinder said confidently.

“Don’t forget, I was able to beat you once, I can do it again.” Ruby responded.

At the drop of a hat, Cinder charged in front of Ruby tackling her to the ground. Once the shit had hit the fan, all hell broke loose. Everybody fought everybody. You had Qrow taking on Raven, Yang taking on Mercury, Weiss taking on Vernal and Ren and Nora were trying to take on Hazel, who had locked the door earlier. Jay tried to get to Ruby’s side, but he was blocked by Emerald.

“You’re not getting any closer to her. You’re gonna tango with me.” Emerald said with a sneer.

“All right then, let’s dance.” Jay said, as he lunged towards her.

Emerald dodged his attack quickly and started to shoot towards him. He was able to block some of her shots using his aura, but he was also able to move fast enough to dodge. He clapped his hands together to ignite his flames and started to shoot fireballs towards her. But, she was just as good at dodging as he was. With one quick movement, she was able to unleash her chains to ensnare Jay by the throat to bring him closer to her.

“Why are you doing this? Salem-” Jay choked out. 

“I don’t care about Salem! But Cinder, I owe her everything.” Emerald said angrily.

After having the chain around his neck for a bit, she dropped him to the floor, with him trying to catch his breath.

“If you want to fight her, be my guest. After all, she could beat you just as easily as she did before.” Emerald said, before seemingly disappearing.

All Jay could see was Cinder in front of him, he rose from the ground to take a swing at her. But when she got closer to him, she faded away and Emerald came out of nowhere and hit him across the face with her sickle. As he laid on the ground, he could hear one of his comrades crying in pain, it was Weiss. He wanted to help her so badly, but he needed to fight off Emerald.

As he continued to fight the opponent before him, he could hear Cinder tell Ruby that she could take away more of the people she cared about just as easily, while keeping the young girl pinned underneath her foot. Cinder made a spear out of her flames and threw it towards Weiss. Ruby felt helpless, she couldn’t do anything to save her friend. Jay noticed the spear being thrown and he made the choice to save Weiss. He punched Emerald across the face, knocking her to the ground. Once Emerald was out of the way, he ran over towards Weiss as fast as he could; he couldn’t let someone else suffer by Cinder’s hand.

Weiss turned around, she saw the spear coming towards her and panicked. Before she could get hit, she felt someone get in front of her to grab the spear. She looked up and saw it was Jay and in his hands was the spear. This however was a costly mistake. The hand wrap Jay wore had flame dust embedded into them and when he grabbed the spear, it caused the flames from the spear to interact with his dust. This caused a small explosion, knocking Jay back hard onto the floor.

Weiss looked over in shock. She ran over and knelt down beside him and she said,

“JAY!! Are you ok? Please be alright.”

“*Cough* I’m alright, don’t worry about it. I’m just a bit banged up. Are you ok?”

“Are you kidding, I’m fine. You’re the one that’s hurt.”

“I just wanted to make sure you’re safe. I couldn’t let anyone else lose somebody that’s important to them. God knows I couldn’t go through that again, not with you. ”

Weiss couldn’t believe what he just said. She couldn’t believe he did that for her, she meant something to him. Truth was, he meant something to her too. She extended her hand out to him to help him up. Once he was up off the ground, they didn’t realize until a few moments later they were holding each other’s hand for a bit too long. They nodded at one another and headed back into the fight.

The battle was over and there was a lot to take in. The White Fang’s plan to blow up the school was stopped, Adam disappeared with Hazel, Emerald and Mercury and Yang had shown up with the relic; with no sign of Cinder returning. None of this wouldn’t have been possible if an old ally had not shown up with backup to help take out the White Fang. It was Blake, she was finally with her team again. Weiss, Ruby and even Yang, despite still being mad about Blake leaving, welcomed her back with open arms. Yes, Team RWBY was reunited again and Jay, Nora and Ren couldn’t have been happier for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please forgive the lateness of this latest chapter. I wasn't feeling the best mentally, but I'm feeling better now. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks for reading!


	9. Funeral For A Friend

Today was a day nobody had been looking forward to, they had to say goodbye to Pyrrha officially. After Ruby, Jay, Nora and Ren told Pyrrha’s parents what happened, they were able to plan a proper farewell for their daughter. It would be a small ceremony with just Pyrrha’s family and friends and it would be held at the local funeral home. Everyone was getting ready to go, but Jay was still having trouble tying his tie; he really wished he could just wear a clip on instead.

As he struggled, he could hear a small knock on his door. He told the person to come in and as he turned around to see who it was, he saw that it was his grandma. She closed the door behind her and asked,

“Do you need help with that? Your grandpa was never good at tying those things either.”

“Yeah, I’d appreciate that grandma. Thanks.” Jay said, as his grandma came over to help.

“How are you feeling today buddy?”

“Not great, but I’m trying not to let it bother me too much.”

“Jay, you know you’re allowed to be sad right? It’s not good to keep things bottled up.”

“I’ll be fine grandma. You know that Pyrrha wouldn’t want me to be upset.”

“Yes, but you know, I think she would also want you to be able to express your grief.”

“I’ll keep that in mind thanks.” Jay said, as his grandma finished helping him.

His grandma left the room, leaving Jay to his own thoughts. As he put on his suit jacket, he realized his grandma was right and he remembered that he promised Ruby that he wouldn’t bury his feelings anymore. But, he wanted to be strong for everyone else today. It was like he was falling back into old habits again, but he pushed that thought to the back of his mind. Once he was ready, he headed out the door to join everyone so that they could go to the funeral.

When everyone got to the funeral home, they took the chance to look around. The room was decorated beautifully and there were several chairs set up. Beside the podium was a large framed picture of Pyrrha, with four large bunches of flowers around it. Jay smirked a little, they were all red… her favourite. He knew because she told him that once during one of their many workouts together.

Everyone was lined up to offer their condolences to Pyrrha’s parents before the service, so everyone got in line to do the same. Once Jay got to her parents he said,

“I just wanted to say again, I’m sorry for your loss.”

Her parents nodded and thanked him for the sentiment. He turned around and took a seat next to Nora, Ren and Weiss. The service was about to start and everyone could feel the sadness in the air. The pastor came up to the podium and he started to speak,

“Today, we are here to celebrate the life of Pyrrha Nikos. She was a kind soul, a valiant fighter, a fierce competitor, and most importantly… a loyal daughter and friend. To get started, we have some friends of Pyrrha who would like to say a few words about her. I’d like to welcome both Ruby Rose and Jason Arc to the podium.”

Ruby and Jay got up from their seats and headed over to the front. Ruby got in front of the mic with Jay standing beside her in support. She adjusted the mic to her height and when she felt ready, she started to speak,

“Hi, I’m Ruby. I first met Pyrrha back at Beacon and while I only knew her for a short while, I could tell that she was a very special person. She was amazing, she represented the kind of person I wanted to be. She was strong, kind, supportive and most importantly, she had the biggest heart of anybody I knew. She impacted the lives of everyone she met and she still continues to inspire me to this day. We’ll miss her, very much, but one thing I’ll always remember is that she’ll be with us always. No matter where we are in the world, we’ll always know she’s there watching over us. We miss you, Pyrrha.”

When Ruby finished her eulogy, she had started to tear up and Jay pulled her closer to him and enveloped her in a hug. He led her off the podium so that the pastor could continue the service. Jay was trying so hard not to cry, but it was hard. Once he got Ruby seated, he moved back to his own seat. Weiss put her hand on his shoulder in support, because she could tell he was having a hard time.

The service continued with more speeches and prayers, until it was time to move to Pyrrha’s home for the gathering afterwords. When Ruby and company arrived, the house was filled to the brim with relatives and friends of Pyrrha’s family. They made their way into the house and joined in the many conversations about Pyrrha.

Jay had been stopped by many people, asking him about how he knew Pyrrha and telling him they were sorry for the loss. He appreciated the sentiment, but at this point it was starting to get harder to hold back any tears. When he finished talking with another of Pyrrha’s family members, he turned around and stopped. It was a picture of Pyrrha with him, Ren and Nora; she must have sent this to her parents. He picked up the picture and held it for a moment, until he realized he couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. He placed the photo back where it belonged and headed outside to the garden.

Once he was alone, the tears started to fall. He couldn’t hide it anymore, he missed her so much it hurt. The tears felt like they would never stop. As he continued to sob, he could feel a pair of arms bringing him closer to them; it was Weiss. Instead of running away, he pulled her closer to him and continued to cry while in her embrace. Over and over, Weiss reassured him it’s alright and they stayed like this for what seemed like forever.

Once Jay felt like he could stop crying, he pulled himself away from Weiss and said,

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry, for what?” she asked.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be strong for everyone today. I thought I would be ready for this after all this time, but I wasn’t. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye, not yet. I know Pyrrha wouldn’t want me to be sad, but I can’t help it, I miss her.”

“You don’t have to apologize for anything. You’re allowed to be sad, everybody grieves differently.”

“I know. When my parents died, I didn’t really deal with my emotions properly. I focused on everyone else so I wouldn’t have to focus on myself. I broke down for the first time in years about it because of my teammates, who were there to listen to me. I felt like I finally got closure ya know? But then I found out it was all a lie, what happened to my parents. They were murdered, by one of Salem’s minions. All because they were in the way.”

“Jay… I’m so sorry.”

“It’s like I have to relive their passing all over again and with Pyrrha gone too, it’s like I’ve lost everybody.”

“But Jay, you haven’t lost everybody. You have your grandparents, your sister, your grandma, your teammates, your friends and you haven’t lost me. You’re one of my closest friends and I’m always going to be there for you.”

“I know, thanks Weiss, I appreciate that.” Jay said, as he pulled her in for another hug.

He held Weiss close to him for what felt like forever. She was right, he hadn’t lost everybody in his life. He vowed from that day forward to cherish the people in his life and keep them close to him, because he didn’t know what tomorrow could bring and he didn’t want to waste another moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Well, we've arrived at part two in my OC fic series. Thanks again to everyone who supported the first fic and I hope you enjoy this one!


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